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Sleep with David Bowie, Part 2
Summary
Put on your red shoes and relax… Again. "Sleep with David Bowie, Part 2"
This podcast takes a dreamy dive into the chameleon-like world of David Bowie—rock’s original shapeshifter and patron saint of reinvention. From Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, we trace the cosmic arc of a man who never met a genre he couldn’t bend to his will.
We zero in on the Berlin Trilogy era—Low, "Heroes", and Lodger—where Bowie traded glitter for grit and helped rewrite the rules of music. Ambient soundscapes? Experimental funk? Existential sax solos? Check, check, and check.
Whether you grew up blasting Changes on vinyl or discovered Bowie between Labyrinth reruns and late-night mixed tapes, this series offers a gently trippy tour through his legacy—with a mellow narration style perfect for drifting off.
So get comfy, Gen Xers. Let’s turn and face the strange… and maybe catch a little sleep while we’re at it.
Links You May Like
- David Bowie
- The source material for this episode is Wikipedia
- "Sleep with David Bowie, Part 1"
- Join our Fan Club for perks like early access, shoutouts (great for birthdays), and exclusive episodes
Show Notes
Cue the synths and grab your black trench coat—this episode dives deep into David Bowie's Berlin years, when he swapped glitter for grit and made getting weird an art form. We kick things off with Low, the album that had fans scratching their heads and future musicians taking notes. With its ambient soundscapes and fragmented funk, Low didn’t just break the mold—it set it on fire, then rebuilt it with circuit boards and saxophones.
We track Bowie’s sonic left turn, explore how Brian Eno and Robert Fripp helped him color outside the lines, and unpack how Heroes followed Low like the cooler, slightly more optimistic sequel. Alienation, addiction, identity—Bowie spun it all into music that still feels like the future.
By the time we get to Lodger, we’re fully in Bowie’s experimental zone, where genres blur, boundaries collapse, and nothing is quite what it seems (in the best way possible).
It’s a love letter to reinvention, resilience, and one man’s refusal to play it safe. Whether you wore out your Heroes cassette in '77 or found Bowie on a late-night YouTube spiral, this episode’s for you.
Takeaways
- We ease into the eclectic musical journey of David Bowie—the original master of reinvention and a true Gen X icon.
- Listeners are invited to unwind with soothing narration designed to help you relax, reset, and nod off.
- We spotlight Bowie’s groundbreaking Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", and Lodger) a sonic shift that redefined music as we knew it.
- Repetition is encouraged: re-listening helps your brain build sleepy-time associations (Bowie as your personal lullaby? Yes, please).
- We reflect on his bold collaborations, including the unforgettable team-up with Queen on Under Pressure—because why be one legend when you can be two?
- Throughout, we honor Bowie’s shapeshifting artistry and how his legacy continues to inspire the beautifully offbeat, the creatively restless, and the proudly nonconforming.
- We wrap it all up with a gentle reminder: in a world that’s constantly changing, Bowie’s music remains a constant: timeless, transformative, and totally nap-worthy.
Chapters
- 00:00 - Introduction to David Bowie
- 02:35 - The Evolution of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy
- 15:30 - The Electronic Period: A New Beginning
- 23:19 - Bowie's Health Challenges and Musical Resurgence
- 26:37 - Bowie's Final Years and Legacy
Artists & Musicians in this Episode
- David Bowie
- Mark Boland
- Bing Crosby
- RCA
- Philip Glass
- Chuck Hammer
- Steve Strange
- Visage
- Queen
- Giorgio Moroder
- EMI America Records
- Nile Rogers
- Stevie Ray Vaughan
- Tina Turner
- Beach Boys
- Pat McAfee Group
- Mick Jagger
- Absolute Beginners
- Trevor Jones
- Labyrinth
- Peter Frampton
- Prince
- Madonna
- U2
- Tin Machine
- Reeves Gabriels
- Tony Sales
- Hunt Sales
- Freddie Mercury
- Annie Lennox
- Simon and Garfunkel
- Black Tie White Noise
- Nine Inch Nails
- Earthling
- TV on the Radio
- Lou Reed
- Kashmir
- Scarlett Johansson
- Space Oddity
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- The Last Panthers
Recommended If You Like
David Bowie, Sleep With Rockstars, Gen X musicians, sleep podcast, relaxation techniques, bedtime stories, soothing music, ambient sounds, music history, sleep aid podcast, mindfulness, David Bowie biography, rock legend, musical influences, 1970s music, Berlin Trilogy, pop culture, music therapy, nostalgia, lullabies, Gen X sleep podcast
Transcript
00:00:00.240 - 00:00:09.440
This evening I will read about David Bowie welcome to Sleep With Rockstars, the.
00:00:09.440 - 00:00:16.080
Gen X Sleep Podcast. Because you deserve a good night's sleep or whatever.
00:00:17.840 - 00:00:27.720
I'm Sloane Spencer. In each Sleep with Rockstars Sleep podcast, I will read from Wikipedia about your.
00:00:27.720 - 00:00:30.720
Favorite Gen X musicians and bands.
00:00:31.920 - 00:02:35.000
If this podcast helps you relax and fall asleep, please leave a five star rating and a kind review in your favorite podcast app.
You may find that the more you listen, the more your mind will begin to associate these stories with sleep, so feel free to return to each episode again and again. Repetition can help create a signal to your brain that it's time to rest. And if the musical act isn't your favorite, that's perfectly okay.
You don't need to pay close attention. Instead, let the words wash over you. Let their rhythm and softness lull you, not for interest, but for sleep.
You're not here to be entertained, you're here to let go. Now let your breath guide you deeper into stillness. Take a moment to settle in. Gently close your eyes and let your body begin to rest.
There's nowhere you need to be, nothing you need to do. This is your time. A time to let go of the day.
Unwind and allow your mind to slow down with each breath in, invite calm with each breath out, release the tension as your body begins to soften into the surface beneath you. Imagine a gentle wave of warmth from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes, carrying away the.
00:02:35.000 - 00:31:31.610
Weight of the day, echoing Lowe's minimalist instrumental approach. The second of the trilogy, Heroes, incorporated pop and rock to a greater extent, seeing Bowie joined by guitarist Robert Fripp.
It was the only album recorded entirely in Berlin, incorporating ambient sounds from a variety of sources, including white noise generators, synthesizers and Koto. The album was another hit, reaching number three in the uk.
Its title track was released in both German and French and though only reaching number 24 in the UK singles chart, later became one of his best known tracks.
In contrast to Low, Bowie promoted Heroes extensively, performing on Mark Boland's television show Mark and again two days later for Bing Crosby's final CBS television Christmas special, where he joined Crosby in peace on Earth. Little Drummer Boy A version of the Little Drummer Boy with a new contrapuntal verse.
RCA belatedly released the recording as a single five years later in 1982, charting in the UK at number three.
After completing Low and Heroes, Bowie spent much of 1978 on the Islaar 2 world tour, bringing the music of the first two Berlin trilogy albums to almost a million people during 70 concerts in 12 countries. By now he had broken his drug addiction.
Buckley writes that Isolar 2 was Bowie's first tour for five years in which he had probably not anesthetized himself with copious quantities of cocaine before taking the stage. Without the oblivion that drugs had brought, he was now in a healthy enough mental condition to want to make friends.
Recordings from the tour made up the live album Stage, released the same year.
Bowie also recorded narration for an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's classical composition Peter and the Wolf, which was released as an album in May 1978.
The final piece in what Bowie called his triptych, Lodger 1979 eschewed the minimalist ambient nature of its two predecessors, making a partial return to the drum and guitar based rock and pop of his pre Berlin era. The result was a complex mixture of new wave and world music in places incorporating Hijaz non Western scales.
Some tracks were composed using Eno's oblique strategies.
Cards Boys Keep Swinging entailed band members swapping instruments, Move on used the chords from Bowie's early composition all the Young Dudes Played Backwards, and Red Money took backing tracks from the Idiot's Sister Midnight. The album was recorded in Switzerland and New York City.
Ahead of its release, RCA's Mellberman described it as a concept album that portrays the Lodger as a homeless wanderer shunned and victimized by life's pressures and technology. Lodger reached number four in the UK and number 20 in the US and yielded the UK hit singles Boys Keep Swinging and DJ.
Towards the end of the year, Bowie and Angela initiated divorce proceedings and after months of court battles the marriage was ended in early 1980.
The three albums were later adapted into classical music symphonies by American composer Philip Glass for his 1st 4th and 12th symphonies in 1992, 1997 and 2019 respectively. Glass praised Bowie's gift for creating fairly complex pieces of music masquerading as simple pieces.
1980 through 1988 new romantic and Pop Era Scary Monsters and Super Creeps 1980 produced the number one single Ashes to Ashes, featuring the textural guitar synthesizer work of Chuck Hammer and revisiting the character of Major Tom from Space Odd.
The song gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement when Bowie visited the London Club Blitz, the main New Romantic hangout, to recruit several of the regulars, including Steve Strange of the band Visage, to act in the accompanying video, renowned as one of the most innovative of all time. While Scary Monsters used principles established by the Berlin albums, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically.
The album's hard rock edge included conspicuous guitar contributions from Fripp and Pete Townsend, topping the UK albums chart for the first time since Diamond Dogs. Buckley writes that with Scary Monsters, Bowie achieved the perfect balance of creativity and mainstream success.
Bowie paired with Queen in 1981 for a one off single release Under Pressure. The duet was a hit, becoming Bowie's third UK number one single.
Bowie was given the lead role in the BBC's 1982 televised adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Play Ball. Coinciding with its transmission, a five track EP of songs from the Blay was released as Ball.
In March 1982, Bowie's title song for Paul Schrader's film Cat People was released as a single. A collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, it became a minor US hit and charted in the UK top 30.
The same year he departed RCA having grown increasingly dissatisfied with them and signed a new contract with EMI America Records for a reported $17 million. His 1975 severance settlement with Defreeze also ended in September.
Bowie reached his peak of popularity and commercial success in 1983 with let's Dance. Co produced by Chic's Nile Rogers. The album went platinum in both the UK and the US.
Its three singles became top 20 hits in both countries where its title track reached number one.
Modern Love and China Girl each made number two in the uk, accompanied by a pair of absorbing music videos that Buckley said activated key archetypes in the pop world.
Let's Dance, with its little narrative surrounding the young aboriginal couple, targeted youth and China Girl, with its bare bombed and later partially censored beach lovemaking scene, was sufficiently sexually provocative to guarantee heavy rotation on mtv. Then unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan guested on the album, featuring prominently on the title track.
Let's Dance was followed by the six month serious moonlight tour which was extremely successful. At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, Bowie received two awards including the inaugural Video Vanguard Award.
Tonight 1984 another dance oriented album found Bowie collaborating with pop and Tina Turner. Co produced by Hugh Padjam, it included a number of COVID songs including three pop covers and the 1966 Beach Boys hit God Only Knows.
e album bore the transatlantic top 10 hit Blue Jean, itself the inspiration for the Julian Temple directed short film Jazz in for the Blue Jean, in which Bowie played the dual roles of romantic protagonist Vic and arrogant rock star screamin Lord Byron. The short won Bowie his only non posthumous Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music video.
In early 1985 Bowie's collaboration with the Pat McAfee Group this is Not America for the soundtrack of the Falcon and the Snowman was released as a single and became a top 40 hit in the UK and US in July that year, Bowie performed at Wembley Stadium for Live Aid, a multi venue benefit concert for Ethiopian famine relief.
Bowie and Mick Jagger duetted on a cover of Martha and the Mandela's Dancing in the street as a fundraising single which went to number one in the UK and number seven in the us. Its video premiered during Live Aid. Bowie took an acting role in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners and his title song rose to 2 in the UK charts.
He also worked with composer Trevor Jones and wrote five original songs for the 1986 film Labyrinth, which he starred in.
His final solo album of the decade was 1987's Never Let Me down, where he ditched the light sound of his previous two albums instead combining pop rock with a harder rock sound, making it number six in the uk. The album yielded the hits Day In, Day Out, Time Will Crawl and Never Let Me Down. Bowie later described it as his nadir, calling it an awful album.
He supported the album on the 86 concert Glass Spider tour. The backing band included Peter Frampton on lead guitar.
Contemporary critics maligned the tour as overproduced, saying it pandered to the current stadium rock trends and its special effects and dancing, although in later years critics acknowledged the tour's strengths and influence on concert tours by other artists such as Prince, Madonna and U2.
19891991 Tin Machine Wanting to completely rejuvenate himself following the critical failures of Tonight and Never Let Me Down, Bowie placed his solo career on hold after meeting guitarist Reeves Gabriels and formed the hard rock quartet Tin Machine. The lineup was completed by bassist and drummer Tony and Hunt Sales, who had played with bowie on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life in 1977.
Although he intended Tin Machine to operate as a democracy, Bowie dominated both in songwriting and in decision making.
The band's 1989 self titled debut album received mixed reviews and according to author Paul Tranka, was quickly dismissed as pompous, dogmatic and dull. EMI complained of lyrics that preach as well as repetitive tunes and minimalist or no production.
It reached number three in the UK and was supported by a 12 date tour.
The tour was a commercial success, but there was growing reluctance among fans and critics alike to accept Bowie's presentation as merely a band member. A series of Tin Machine singles failed to chart and Bowie, after a disagreement with EMI left the label.
Like his audience and his critics, Bowie himself became increasingly disaffected with his role as just one member of a band.
Tin Machine began to work on a second album, but recording halted while Bowie conducted the seven month Sound and Vision Tour, which brought him commercial success and acclaim. In October 1990, Bowie and supermodel Iman were introduced by a mutual friend. He recalled, I was naming the children the night we met.
It was absolutely immediate. They married in 1992.
Tin Machine resumed work the same month, but their audience and critics ultimately left disappointed by the first album, showed little interest in a second.
Tin Machine 21991 was Bowie's first album to miss the UK top 20 in nearly 20 years and was controversial for its cover art depicting four ancient nude Kuroi statues. The new record label Victory, deemed the COVID a show of wrong, obscene images and airbrushed the statue's genitalia for the American release.
Tin Machine toured again, but after the live album Tin Machine Live oy vey baby 1992 failed commercially, Bowie dissolved the band and resumed his solo career. He continued to collaborate with Gebrels for the rest of the 1990s.
19921998 Electronic Period On 20 April 1992, Bowie appeared at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert following the Queen singer's death the previous year as well as performing Heroes and All the Young Dudes. He was joined on Under Pressure by Annie Lennox who took Mercury's vocal part.
During his appearance, Bowie knelt and recited the Lord's Prayer at Wembley Stadium. Four days later Bowie and Iman married in Switzerland, intending to move to Los Angeles.
They flew in to search for a suitable property but found themselves confined to their hotel. The 1992 Los Angeles riots began the day they arrived. They settled in New York instead.
In 1993 Bowie released his first solo offering since his Tin Machine departure, the soul, jazz and hip hop influenced Black Tie White Noise, making prominent use of electronic instruments.
The album, which Reunited Bowie with let's Dance producer Nile Rogers, confirmed Bowie's return to popularity, topping the UK chart and spawning three top 40 hits including the top 10 single Jump they say.
Bowie explored new directions on the Buddha of Suburbia 1993, which began as a soundtrack album for the BBC television adaptation of the Buddha of Suburbia before turning into a full album. Only the title track, the Buddha of Suburbia was used in the program, referencing his 1970s works with pop, jazz, ambient and experimental material.
It received a low key release, had almost no promotion and flopped commercially, reaching number 87 in the U.K. nevertheless, it later received critical praise as Bowie's lost great album. Reuniting Bowie with Eno, the quasi industrial Outside was originally conceived as the first volume in a nonlinear narrative of art and murder.
Featuring characters from a short story written by Bowie, the album achieved UK and US chart success and yielded three top 40 UK singles.
In a move that provoked mixed reactions from both fans and critics, Bowie chose Nine Inch Nails as his tour...
View all episodes
By Sloane SpencerSummary
Put on your red shoes and relax… Again. "Sleep with David Bowie, Part 2"
This podcast takes a dreamy dive into the chameleon-like world of David Bowie—rock’s original shapeshifter and patron saint of reinvention. From Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, we trace the cosmic arc of a man who never met a genre he couldn’t bend to his will.
We zero in on the Berlin Trilogy era—Low, "Heroes", and Lodger—where Bowie traded glitter for grit and helped rewrite the rules of music. Ambient soundscapes? Experimental funk? Existential sax solos? Check, check, and check.
Whether you grew up blasting Changes on vinyl or discovered Bowie between Labyrinth reruns and late-night mixed tapes, this series offers a gently trippy tour through his legacy—with a mellow narration style perfect for drifting off.
So get comfy, Gen Xers. Let’s turn and face the strange… and maybe catch a little sleep while we’re at it.
Links You May Like
- David Bowie
- The source material for this episode is Wikipedia
- "Sleep with David Bowie, Part 1"
- Join our Fan Club for perks like early access, shoutouts (great for birthdays), and exclusive episodes
Show Notes
Cue the synths and grab your black trench coat—this episode dives deep into David Bowie's Berlin years, when he swapped glitter for grit and made getting weird an art form. We kick things off with Low, the album that had fans scratching their heads and future musicians taking notes. With its ambient soundscapes and fragmented funk, Low didn’t just break the mold—it set it on fire, then rebuilt it with circuit boards and saxophones.
We track Bowie’s sonic left turn, explore how Brian Eno and Robert Fripp helped him color outside the lines, and unpack how Heroes followed Low like the cooler, slightly more optimistic sequel. Alienation, addiction, identity—Bowie spun it all into music that still feels like the future.
By the time we get to Lodger, we’re fully in Bowie’s experimental zone, where genres blur, boundaries collapse, and nothing is quite what it seems (in the best way possible).
It’s a love letter to reinvention, resilience, and one man’s refusal to play it safe. Whether you wore out your Heroes cassette in '77 or found Bowie on a late-night YouTube spiral, this episode’s for you.
Takeaways
- We ease into the eclectic musical journey of David Bowie—the original master of reinvention and a true Gen X icon.
- Listeners are invited to unwind with soothing narration designed to help you relax, reset, and nod off.
- We spotlight Bowie’s groundbreaking Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", and Lodger) a sonic shift that redefined music as we knew it.
- Repetition is encouraged: re-listening helps your brain build sleepy-time associations (Bowie as your personal lullaby? Yes, please).
- We reflect on his bold collaborations, including the unforgettable team-up with Queen on Under Pressure—because why be one legend when you can be two?
- Throughout, we honor Bowie’s shapeshifting artistry and how his legacy continues to inspire the beautifully offbeat, the creatively restless, and the proudly nonconforming.
- We wrap it all up with a gentle reminder: in a world that’s constantly changing, Bowie’s music remains a constant: timeless, transformative, and totally nap-worthy.
Chapters
- 00:00 - Introduction to David Bowie
- 02:35 - The Evolution of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy
- 15:30 - The Electronic Period: A New Beginning
- 23:19 - Bowie's Health Challenges and Musical Resurgence
- 26:37 - Bowie's Final Years and Legacy
Artists & Musicians in this Episode
- David Bowie
- Mark Boland
- Bing Crosby
- RCA
- Philip Glass
- Chuck Hammer
- Steve Strange
- Visage
- Queen
- Giorgio Moroder
- EMI America Records
- Nile Rogers
- Stevie Ray Vaughan
- Tina Turner
- Beach Boys
- Pat McAfee Group
- Mick Jagger
- Absolute Beginners
- Trevor Jones
- Labyrinth
- Peter Frampton
- Prince
- Madonna
- U2
- Tin Machine
- Reeves Gabriels
- Tony Sales
- Hunt Sales
- Freddie Mercury
- Annie Lennox
- Simon and Garfunkel
- Black Tie White Noise
- Nine Inch Nails
- Earthling
- TV on the Radio
- Lou Reed
- Kashmir
- Scarlett Johansson
- Space Oddity
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- The Last Panthers
Recommended If You Like
David Bowie, Sleep With Rockstars, Gen X musicians, sleep podcast, relaxation techniques, bedtime stories, soothing music, ambient sounds, music history, sleep aid podcast, mindfulness, David Bowie biography, rock legend, musical influences, 1970s music, Berlin Trilogy, pop culture, music therapy, nostalgia, lullabies, Gen X sleep podcast
Transcript
00:00:00.240 - 00:00:09.440
This evening I will read about David Bowie welcome to Sleep With Rockstars, the.
00:00:09.440 - 00:00:16.080
Gen X Sleep Podcast. Because you deserve a good night's sleep or whatever.
00:00:17.840 - 00:00:27.720
I'm Sloane Spencer. In each Sleep with Rockstars Sleep podcast, I will read from Wikipedia about your.
00:00:27.720 - 00:00:30.720
Favorite Gen X musicians and bands.
00:00:31.920 - 00:02:35.000
If this podcast helps you relax and fall asleep, please leave a five star rating and a kind review in your favorite podcast app.
You may find that the more you listen, the more your mind will begin to associate these stories with sleep, so feel free to return to each episode again and again. Repetition can help create a signal to your brain that it's time to rest. And if the musical act isn't your favorite, that's perfectly okay.
You don't need to pay close attention. Instead, let the words wash over you. Let their rhythm and softness lull you, not for interest, but for sleep.
You're not here to be entertained, you're here to let go. Now let your breath guide you deeper into stillness. Take a moment to settle in. Gently close your eyes and let your body begin to rest.
There's nowhere you need to be, nothing you need to do. This is your time. A time to let go of the day.
Unwind and allow your mind to slow down with each breath in, invite calm with each breath out, release the tension as your body begins to soften into the surface beneath you. Imagine a gentle wave of warmth from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes, carrying away the.
00:02:35.000 - 00:31:31.610
Weight of the day, echoing Lowe's minimalist instrumental approach. The second of the trilogy, Heroes, incorporated pop and rock to a greater extent, seeing Bowie joined by guitarist Robert Fripp.
It was the only album recorded entirely in Berlin, incorporating ambient sounds from a variety of sources, including white noise generators, synthesizers and Koto. The album was another hit, reaching number three in the uk.
Its title track was released in both German and French and though only reaching number 24 in the UK singles chart, later became one of his best known tracks.
In contrast to Low, Bowie promoted Heroes extensively, performing on Mark Boland's television show Mark and again two days later for Bing Crosby's final CBS television Christmas special, where he joined Crosby in peace on Earth. Little Drummer Boy A version of the Little Drummer Boy with a new contrapuntal verse.
RCA belatedly released the recording as a single five years later in 1982, charting in the UK at number three.
After completing Low and Heroes, Bowie spent much of 1978 on the Islaar 2 world tour, bringing the music of the first two Berlin trilogy albums to almost a million people during 70 concerts in 12 countries. By now he had broken his drug addiction.
Buckley writes that Isolar 2 was Bowie's first tour for five years in which he had probably not anesthetized himself with copious quantities of cocaine before taking the stage. Without the oblivion that drugs had brought, he was now in a healthy enough mental condition to want to make friends.
Recordings from the tour made up the live album Stage, released the same year.
Bowie also recorded narration for an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's classical composition Peter and the Wolf, which was released as an album in May 1978.
The final piece in what Bowie called his triptych, Lodger 1979 eschewed the minimalist ambient nature of its two predecessors, making a partial return to the drum and guitar based rock and pop of his pre Berlin era. The result was a complex mixture of new wave and world music in places incorporating Hijaz non Western scales.
Some tracks were composed using Eno's oblique strategies.
Cards Boys Keep Swinging entailed band members swapping instruments, Move on used the chords from Bowie's early composition all the Young Dudes Played Backwards, and Red Money took backing tracks from the Idiot's Sister Midnight. The album was recorded in Switzerland and New York City.
Ahead of its release, RCA's Mellberman described it as a concept album that portrays the Lodger as a homeless wanderer shunned and victimized by life's pressures and technology. Lodger reached number four in the UK and number 20 in the US and yielded the UK hit singles Boys Keep Swinging and DJ.
Towards the end of the year, Bowie and Angela initiated divorce proceedings and after months of court battles the marriage was ended in early 1980.
The three albums were later adapted into classical music symphonies by American composer Philip Glass for his 1st 4th and 12th symphonies in 1992, 1997 and 2019 respectively. Glass praised Bowie's gift for creating fairly complex pieces of music masquerading as simple pieces.
1980 through 1988 new romantic and Pop Era Scary Monsters and Super Creeps 1980 produced the number one single Ashes to Ashes, featuring the textural guitar synthesizer work of Chuck Hammer and revisiting the character of Major Tom from Space Odd.
The song gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement when Bowie visited the London Club Blitz, the main New Romantic hangout, to recruit several of the regulars, including Steve Strange of the band Visage, to act in the accompanying video, renowned as one of the most innovative of all time. While Scary Monsters used principles established by the Berlin albums, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically.
The album's hard rock edge included conspicuous guitar contributions from Fripp and Pete Townsend, topping the UK albums chart for the first time since Diamond Dogs. Buckley writes that with Scary Monsters, Bowie achieved the perfect balance of creativity and mainstream success.
Bowie paired with Queen in 1981 for a one off single release Under Pressure. The duet was a hit, becoming Bowie's third UK number one single.
Bowie was given the lead role in the BBC's 1982 televised adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Play Ball. Coinciding with its transmission, a five track EP of songs from the Blay was released as Ball.
In March 1982, Bowie's title song for Paul Schrader's film Cat People was released as a single. A collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, it became a minor US hit and charted in the UK top 30.
The same year he departed RCA having grown increasingly dissatisfied with them and signed a new contract with EMI America Records for a reported $17 million. His 1975 severance settlement with Defreeze also ended in September.
Bowie reached his peak of popularity and commercial success in 1983 with let's Dance. Co produced by Chic's Nile Rogers. The album went platinum in both the UK and the US.
Its three singles became top 20 hits in both countries where its title track reached number one.
Modern Love and China Girl each made number two in the uk, accompanied by a pair of absorbing music videos that Buckley said activated key archetypes in the pop world.
Let's Dance, with its little narrative surrounding the young aboriginal couple, targeted youth and China Girl, with its bare bombed and later partially censored beach lovemaking scene, was sufficiently sexually provocative to guarantee heavy rotation on mtv. Then unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan guested on the album, featuring prominently on the title track.
Let's Dance was followed by the six month serious moonlight tour which was extremely successful. At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, Bowie received two awards including the inaugural Video Vanguard Award.
Tonight 1984 another dance oriented album found Bowie collaborating with pop and Tina Turner. Co produced by Hugh Padjam, it included a number of COVID songs including three pop covers and the 1966 Beach Boys hit God Only Knows.
e album bore the transatlantic top 10 hit Blue Jean, itself the inspiration for the Julian Temple directed short film Jazz in for the Blue Jean, in which Bowie played the dual roles of romantic protagonist Vic and arrogant rock star screamin Lord Byron. The short won Bowie his only non posthumous Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music video.
In early 1985 Bowie's collaboration with the Pat McAfee Group this is Not America for the soundtrack of the Falcon and the Snowman was released as a single and became a top 40 hit in the UK and US in July that year, Bowie performed at Wembley Stadium for Live Aid, a multi venue benefit concert for Ethiopian famine relief.
Bowie and Mick Jagger duetted on a cover of Martha and the Mandela's Dancing in the street as a fundraising single which went to number one in the UK and number seven in the us. Its video premiered during Live Aid. Bowie took an acting role in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners and his title song rose to 2 in the UK charts.
He also worked with composer Trevor Jones and wrote five original songs for the 1986 film Labyrinth, which he starred in.
His final solo album of the decade was 1987's Never Let Me down, where he ditched the light sound of his previous two albums instead combining pop rock with a harder rock sound, making it number six in the uk. The album yielded the hits Day In, Day Out, Time Will Crawl and Never Let Me Down. Bowie later described it as his nadir, calling it an awful album.
He supported the album on the 86 concert Glass Spider tour. The backing band included Peter Frampton on lead guitar.
Contemporary critics maligned the tour as overproduced, saying it pandered to the current stadium rock trends and its special effects and dancing, although in later years critics acknowledged the tour's strengths and influence on concert tours by other artists such as Prince, Madonna and U2.
19891991 Tin Machine Wanting to completely rejuvenate himself following the critical failures of Tonight and Never Let Me Down, Bowie placed his solo career on hold after meeting guitarist Reeves Gabriels and formed the hard rock quartet Tin Machine. The lineup was completed by bassist and drummer Tony and Hunt Sales, who had played with bowie on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life in 1977.
Although he intended Tin Machine to operate as a democracy, Bowie dominated both in songwriting and in decision making.
The band's 1989 self titled debut album received mixed reviews and according to author Paul Tranka, was quickly dismissed as pompous, dogmatic and dull. EMI complained of lyrics that preach as well as repetitive tunes and minimalist or no production.
It reached number three in the UK and was supported by a 12 date tour.
The tour was a commercial success, but there was growing reluctance among fans and critics alike to accept Bowie's presentation as merely a band member. A series of Tin Machine singles failed to chart and Bowie, after a disagreement with EMI left the label.
Like his audience and his critics, Bowie himself became increasingly disaffected with his role as just one member of a band.
Tin Machine began to work on a second album, but recording halted while Bowie conducted the seven month Sound and Vision Tour, which brought him commercial success and acclaim. In October 1990, Bowie and supermodel Iman were introduced by a mutual friend. He recalled, I was naming the children the night we met.
It was absolutely immediate. They married in 1992.
Tin Machine resumed work the same month, but their audience and critics ultimately left disappointed by the first album, showed little interest in a second.
Tin Machine 21991 was Bowie's first album to miss the UK top 20 in nearly 20 years and was controversial for its cover art depicting four ancient nude Kuroi statues. The new record label Victory, deemed the COVID a show of wrong, obscene images and airbrushed the statue's genitalia for the American release.
Tin Machine toured again, but after the live album Tin Machine Live oy vey baby 1992 failed commercially, Bowie dissolved the band and resumed his solo career. He continued to collaborate with Gebrels for the rest of the 1990s.
19921998 Electronic Period On 20 April 1992, Bowie appeared at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert following the Queen singer's death the previous year as well as performing Heroes and All the Young Dudes. He was joined on Under Pressure by Annie Lennox who took Mercury's vocal part.
During his appearance, Bowie knelt and recited the Lord's Prayer at Wembley Stadium. Four days later Bowie and Iman married in Switzerland, intending to move to Los Angeles.
They flew in to search for a suitable property but found themselves confined to their hotel. The 1992 Los Angeles riots began the day they arrived. They settled in New York instead.
In 1993 Bowie released his first solo offering since his Tin Machine departure, the soul, jazz and hip hop influenced Black Tie White Noise, making prominent use of electronic instruments.
The album, which Reunited Bowie with let's Dance producer Nile Rogers, confirmed Bowie's return to popularity, topping the UK chart and spawning three top 40 hits including the top 10 single Jump they say.
Bowie explored new directions on the Buddha of Suburbia 1993, which began as a soundtrack album for the BBC television adaptation of the Buddha of Suburbia before turning into a full album. Only the title track, the Buddha of Suburbia was used in the program, referencing his 1970s works with pop, jazz, ambient and experimental material.
It received a low key release, had almost no promotion and flopped commercially, reaching number 87 in the U.K. nevertheless, it later received critical praise as Bowie's lost great album. Reuniting Bowie with Eno, the quasi industrial Outside was originally conceived as the first volume in a nonlinear narrative of art and murder.
Featuring characters from a short story written by Bowie, the album achieved UK and US chart success and yielded three top 40 UK singles.
In a move that provoked mixed reactions from both fans and critics, Bowie chose Nine Inch Nails as his tour...